La Costa shopping center on hold

CARLSBAD -- The developer of a long-awaited shopping center in
La Costa said this week that his project has been held up for the
past several months because the soil is unstable and plans for
moving utility lines running underneath the site must be
re-engineered.

While grading the site of the new Albertson's store at the
corner of El Camino Real and La Costa Avenue, work crews discovered
the site had been filled about 30 years ago with varying grades of
claylike soil, said Larry Tucker of Grant Tucker Properties in
Newport Beach, which owns the site.

"That isn't good, but underneath that we found what the
engineers call 'bay mud,' which is about what it sounds like and a
terrible surface to put anything on," Tucker said.

Tucker said sewer lines belonging to the Leucadia County Water
Authority must be moved to accommodate the Albertson's store but
the builder, Eleven Western Builders of Escondido, is waiting for
Albertson's consultants and the water authority engineers to agree
on a plan.

The plaza will feature a 61,000-square-foot Albertson's combined
with a Sav-on drug store, a gas station with a convenience market
and numerous small shops and restaurants in 22,500 square feet of
retail space that Grant Tucker Properties will continue to own.

Van Lynch said the city approved all the plans and issued
building permits for the center at the end of December 2000 and he
said he was surprised the development had gotten no further.

"They should have been driving piles for Albertson's and been
nearly done by now," Lynch said.

Albertson's will own the store and is responsible for its
construction and engineering.

Tucker said he expects the re-engineered plans to go to the
water authority for approval by today, but the resumption of
construction will depend entirely on water authority approval.

"Basically, I can't tell you when it's going to end because I
can't tell you when it's going to begin," Tucker said. He added
that construction of the project should take eight to nine months
once it begins, but that weather could delay that.

Alberston's officials and Leucadia County Water Authority
engineers could not be reached for comment.

Tucker said about 90 percent of the space has been leased or is
in lease negotiations. Tenants include Starbucks Coffee, Bruegger's
Bagel Bakery, an Italian restaurant, Score! Learning Centers,
Supercuts, Postal Annex and a Pacific Bell cellular phone store.
Tucker said he is currently in lease negotiations with a bank
also.

The plaza will occupy an 11-acre site occupied by the original
La Costa Plaza, which was demolished in April 1999.